Originally Posted by
bomarc
I hope you will all re read the transcript...I found much more interesting things buried deep inside that might mean something...
Bomarc, totally agree. One of the obivous things that caught my eye was the fact that they pre-disposed themselved to lighting issues based comments about a previous flight in that there would be "lights out" all over the place. It was not clear if he was talking about himself or another crew, but it was obvious that they were expecting to see lighting issues.
When they first dial into ATIS, the report states local temperature at 24, and then states runway in use is 22. Later on, as they are talking through checklists (at 05:56:34), the FO asks what runway. "24", he asks. The captain corrects him and says 22, so they are confusing the numbers early on. The conversation about having lights out occurs immediately after this confusion.
After they get pushback clearance, the controller clears them for taxi to runway 22, and they confirm that back to him. Later, as they are taxing out, he clears them for takeoff and tells them to fly the runway heading, but never mentions 22. He obviously expects them to be where he told them to go. Whether it would be obvious to him from the tower they were not positioned correctly.
As they start rolling, the FO comments that the runway looks weird without lights, and the Captain agrees, yet alarms never go off in their heads, probably because they expected there to be lights out.
If you read all of the transcripts, including interviews, it appears only one person, an American Eagle ramp worker, realized they had turned onto the wrong runway and actually ran to the runway as they started rolling. He did not specifically state that he was trying to stop them, but that was the implied idea. He seemed to be the only really vigilant person at work that morning.
It is amazing to me to see the same types of communication and awareness failures that we have seen time and time again. Then again, doing the same thing day in and day out without issues just sets the table for something like this. Bottom line, I'm sure the NTSB will wind up holding the crew responsible.
Patrick